After Finland joined NATO in Russia threatened to strengthen Russian forces on the border with the country. However, satellite photos and intelligence indicate that the garrisons and military bases of the Russian Federation are still almost empty.
Yle writes about this with reference to an anonymous interlocutor in Finnish military intelligence and satellite photos.
On average, 80 percent of Russian equipment and soldiers were deployed to the war against Ukraine, the publication’s interlocutor noted. There are certain variations by area — in some garrisons more than a fifth of the soldiers remained, in others — less. In addition, the number of Russian soldiers changes from season to season.
«Sometimes new training groups appear, that is, the number of personnel changes depending on the training situation. Equipment also comes and goes,” — noted Yle's interlocutor.
He added that only conscript trainers remained in place, and all contract soldiers had to do real work.
The assessment of the Norwegian Armed Forces is approximately the same — The number of Russian ground forces has decreased by 80%. However, the figure given in the annual report concerns only the ground forces of the northern region of Russia on the Kola Peninsula.
Recall that Finland officially became a NATO member in April last year. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia will be forced to respond to alleged threats to national security arising from Finland’s accession to NATO. To this end, Moscow promises to “take retaliatory measures of both a military-technical and other nature.”
Russian Ambassador to Sweden Viktor Tatarintsev said that the new NATO members “will become a legitimate target for retaliatory measures on the part of Russia , in particular of a military nature.”
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich